Patience, Resolutions, One Size Fits All?

This was long thought to be the only portrait of William Shakespeare that had any claim to have been painted from life, until another possible life portrait, the Cobbe portrait, was revealed in 2009. The portrait is known as the ‘Chandos portrait’ after a previous owner, James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. It was the first portrait to be acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 1856. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post is by Doris McCraw

“How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” Shakespeare, Othello

As we begin the new year the standard practice is to make our resolutions.  We have big plans: loss weight, write that novel, submit so many queries. These are wonderful plans.  Some people make them goals, writing out a step by step process.  Others will look at the goal and start right then and there, almost becoming maniacal in their actions.

Others, like myself, don’t necessarily make resolutions as much as have intentions.  Perhaps we have an idea in mind and mull it over before committing to pursuing the final product. Before I write the haiku I have run the combination of syllables through my head most of the day.

As we proceed into 2013, perhaps we should be more kind to ourselves.  Have patience.  We have become a society of instantaneous response; fitting in; doing what others are doing. Folks nothing great was ever written or invented by following the crowd.  Yes, there are many ideas and tools to help achieve your desires, but no one  idea or tool fits everyone.  Have you ever looked at the ‘one size fits all’…it doesn’t. Even if you are writing a horror story, it is yours, not an Edgar Allan Poe or Dean Koontz.  Be your own storyteller. Tell the story that is in your heart.

As to the other resolutions we make, it is a good idea to make sure they are yours and not what others think they should be.

Make 2013 a great year for you, for when you take care of you then you have so much more to share with others, and that is the greatest gift you can give. Remember greatness takes time!

If you would like to read the Monday through Friday haiku that is continuing for 2013 here is the link:

http://fivesevenfivepage.blogspot.com

If you would like to read some of the short stories I have written, they are located at:

http://angelarainesshorts.blogspot.com

or visit my website at www.dorismccraw.net

Locations Featured in Willow Vale

by Alethea Williams

Originally posted on Actually Alethea June 9, 2012

Just as the characters in my historical romance are fictitious, so are the locales.  Saying that Willow Vale is a “Wyoming” novel gives me a big canvas to paint with broad strokes of an imaginary brush. When Francesca Sittoni lands in America, her first home is a Union Pacific coal mining camp in southwest Wyoming.  In 1898, the Union Pacific had seven coal mines in Wyoming, from which the company sold coal in addition to mining coal to feed its own steam engines.

Two images of U.P. company houses c. 1920s.  The company boardinghouse is on the right. Photos courtesy Sweetwater County Historical Museum

The Union Pacific Railroad did not set out to be a coal mining company.  But its coal supplier in Wyoming was charging excessive rates so the U. P. started its own mining company.  From then on, the Union Pacific Coal Company could dampen competition by requesting that the Union Pacific Railroad Company charge excessive rates to anyone but the U. P. Coal Company to ship coal.  There are several good books on the early railroad; my personal favorite, which I returned to again and again, are the two volumes of Union Pacific by Maury Klein.

Overview of coal camp of Superior, Wyoming c.1920 Photo courtesy Sweetwater County Historical Museum

My fictional town of Hawk Point, Wyoming, is an amalgam of historic Western coal mining towns.  Coal camps sat atop the mines.  If the coal town survived the closing of the mines with the coming of diesel engines, what resulted was a hodgepodge of former little camps cobbled together into one community with very crooked streets.  In the case of Rock Springs, the main east-west route through town exits from the Interstate highway on 9^th Street, changes to Center Street, and then switches to Dewar Drive before finding its sinuous way back to I-80.

After her husband’s death in a mine explosion, Francesca goes to fictional Willow Valley to live with Wyoming rancher Kent Reed.  Again I used a compilation of facts about ranching in Wyoming to imagine their life on a Western ranch in the years after World War I.

The lack of electricity, the stringing of telephone wires on barbed wire fences, dry farming and the trials of traditional homesteading in the arid West are all true.

Mud Spring Ranch south of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Photo courtesy Sweetwater County Historical Museum

Burntfork is a real place; I have always loved that name and couldn’t pass up using it as the name of the creek near Kent’s house in my book.  The Burntfork is a tributary of the Henry’s Fork, which is a tributary of the Green River, which feeds the Colorado River, which flows through the Grand Canyon and then all the way to Mexico!  If you don’t get enoughWyoming rural history from Willow Vale, I recommend reading the template for a woman learning to live on an early Wyoming ranch: Letters of a Woman Homesteader, written by Elinore Pruitt Stewart about her life in Burntfork, published in 1914.

There are fascinating websites dealing with Wyoming history that I found during research for Willow Vale.  Here are two of my favorites.  For at least 13 years, G. B. Dobson has been working on http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/.  I recommend it.  For a smaller, more intimate look at Burntfork, see http://www.mckinnonwyoming.com/.

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media, Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Comments and honest feedback always welcome!

Emotional Holidays … or To Persevere

This Post by Gayle M. Irwin

The holidays can bring a variety of emotions: joy, anxiety, sadness, stress. Just like most days of our life, we can ping-pong between feelings. Sometimes we run the gamut, joyful one moment, frustrated the next.

In years past, I’ve enjoyed the month of December; however, a plague of sadness seems to sweep in more often in recent years. As I age, loses come more often, and those setbacks don’t have to affect me personally, but they touch my heart: the horrific elementary school shooting that happened Friday in Connecticut and the classroom killing at Casper College just a few weeks ago are prime examples – each great loss touched my heart.

Sage and Gayle at Barnes and Noble in Billings MT.

More personally, this year I am without my dear Sage, the blind Springer Spaniel who was the catalyst for my book writing.

Sage’s Big Adventure was published in 2007, and from that book sprouted speaking engagements in schools, libraries, and senior centers; Sage often accompanied me. For the most part, this was a joyful season in my life, and Sage, despite her disability, welcomed the challenge of going into strange buildings and meeting different people. She was a gem and people responded to her shining light.

Sage died in March, the month I was completing the final chapter of Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog. Cancer afflicted her, unbeknownst to my husband, our veterinarian or me. When the disease was discovered, there was nothing that could be done; Sage died within the week. I had to re-write the last chapter and change the tense in the book from present to past.

I’ve had several booksignings this fall, all without Sage. The journey has not been easy – I had looked forward to sharing these outings with her once again! Yet, like the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Sage’s spirit lives on; her legacy remains, of joy despite adversity, courage in spite of struggle, and perseverance in spite of obstacles, not only in the pages of the book but also in my heart and in the hearts of those whom she impacted. All of these lessons are pertinent to the recent tragedies as well as to life in general. Sage was an inspiration!

I conducted a presentation for a ladies’ group last week, and I chose the topic of perseverance. Sage’s life revolved around that word, and it’s a word that needs to describe our lives, too. Life can be a gauntlet, where we’re WHACKED from all sides. Even the holidays can seem like a gauntlet, with our “to-do lists”, holiday parties, food to make, and roads to travel. And for some, the memories of loved ones who’ve passed on needle the heart and pierce the soul. To find the joy once again in the Christmas season, we must persevere through the challenge, struggle and pain.

We writers know about perseverance. We focus upon our craft, putting word to paper. We submit manuscripts and await editors’ decisions. We trudge through rejections, edits, and deadlines, and we continue writing despite setbacks. Sometimes, hopefully often, we experience joy from encouraging words of others, at creating a character we didn’t expect to discover, and through seeing our work in print. As writers, we too, run the gamut (and gauntlet) of emotion that’s not all due to the season of the year. To be more real, our story characters, too, must exhibit a range of emotions because that is life: joy, sadness, frustration, fear, uncertainty, love….

I have one more booksigning before Christmas. Despite the sadness of not having my beloved dog beside me, I smile as I recall the numerous pleasant times: Sage playing in the snow and following me on a cross-country ski trail; Sage snuggling next to a lonely child in a classroom; Sage laying beside me in my sick bed; Sage chasing the kittens through the house in a game of ‘catch-me-if-you-can”; Sage leaping into the air in pursuit of a chattering squirrel in the cottonwood tree; Sage laying at my feet at our mountain cabin and walking the forested trails alongside me.

As I plan for 2013 and set writing goals, I do so with a slightly saddened heart but also with fond memories and deep gratitude for a blind Springer Spaniel who took me on an unforgettable life journey.

Merry Christmas, Sage! And to you all as well!!

Learn more about life lessons with Sage in my book “Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog”, available in either Kindle or paperback version: http://www.amazon.com/Walking-In-Trust-Lessons-Learned/dp/0981892965/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Learn more about my writing at my website: www.gaylemirwin.com.

Wiggly eyes and Chin Dropping Action

This Blog                                                                                                                                                                        by Cher’ley Grogg

Before you have your character perform a certain act, try it yourself. Her eyes rolled all the way back in her head as she thought.  He wiggled his eyes and raised one eyebrow, while dropping his jaw to his chest.

How many expressions can you find in this picture?

I see these expressions all the time and I try to do them. I know there are some things people can do that I can’t like wiggle their ears, raise one eyebrow, and touch their nose with their tongue, but I don’t know anyone who can wiggle their eyes or realistically drop their jaw to their chest.

Beauty Girl Surprise. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Using expressions is good, just be careful how you use them and when you use them.

Towards the end of chapter 13 in “The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk”, the Dickens children are talking about cookies. Two of them tend to be a little heavier and the third one, Jacob, is wiry and he’s chastising the other two. “I don’t think being skinny is a requisite for playing soccer.” She held her chin high in the air. “Besides, I’m losing.”

An exercise I did one time was to watch something happening, out of hearing distance, and put all the emotions into it that I could. It just so happened I was riding down the road in Ohio and a state trooper had pulled someone over. I had my husband slow way down so I could get a better look and I wrote down everything I saw. I don’t remember what I wrote for the assignment, but I remember the incident and the emotions. Emotions are what we are trying to get across, so that is what we should try to put into our writing.

Here’s a link to Center for Nonverbal Studies, it’s very interesting.

If you are a reader, I hope you will read “The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” it is full of emotion, from very high anger to a satisfying feeling of belonging.

“Stamp Out Murder”.

“The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” This is an especially good book for your Tween Children and Grandchildren.

And please join me on my Facebook Fanpage, that’s managed by one of my most faithful fans: Cindy Ferrell

I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This

by Alethea Williams

Thanks to my friend Abbie Johnson Taylor and comedian Bob Newhart for the title of this blog post.  It comes from his book I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things that Strike Me as Funny, which Abbie reviewed for her blog, Abbie’s Corner of the World.

Abbie is a writer.  She reviews books.  I am a writer, and I review books.  Call me crazy.  I’m probably wasting my time, as reviews by writers are being deleted by Amazon, so I shouldn’t even be doing reviews. But I have had my new Kindle for about a week and there are already 98 book selections in my library!  How could this happen?

by adamr at freedigitalphotos.net

First of all, I am an admitted book junkie.  I will read any genre, literary, and nonfiction. So when I run across the marketing promotions authors run on Facebook for free downloads of their books, I usually can’t resist.  What they’re looking for is a review in exchange for the free book – in addition to a bump in their book’s ranking which is supposed to develop buzz and help sales when the book is no longer free.

Amazon is in the process of deleting reviews of books by authors, claiming that writers somehow have a financial interest any book since it has been discovered that one author has pseudonymously written bad reviews for others’ books and good reviews for his own.

I only download free books I really think I would be interested in.  I haven’t read one yet that I think deserved only one or two stars, but if I can’t leave at least three stars I don’t rate the book.  I do leave reviews of books that I really like, stars for books that I merely like, and nothing at all for books that I don’t like.  Is this system dishonest?  Does my awareness of how bad reviews hurt writers’ feelings – if not actual sales figures – make my opinion biased?

by digital art at freedigitalphotos.net

For my own part, I don’t pay much attention to reviews.  I notice if a book has a bunch of five-star reviews and one or two outliers of one-stars.  I also notice if a book has no reviews or a lot of bad reviews.  It’s my experience that most one-star reviews result from people indiscriminately downloading books they wouldn’t ordinarily read, just because they’re free, and then being disappointed with their own mistake.  I don’t read every single review, and so I’m not sure if the hubbub over sock puppet and paid reviews is merited or whether Amazon’s decision to take down all reviews of books by writers isn’t hurting them as much as us.

What do you think?  Do you write books as well as review them?  Do you feel you’re doing your best to be honest when you review?  Have you had any of your reviews deleted?

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media. Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Comments and honest feedback always welcome!

Chain Bookstore Adventures

by Alethea Williams

This post was first published on Actually Alethea April 10, 2012

Willow Vale is set in southwest Wyoming.  My daughter tried twice to get Willow Vale on the shelf in the local southwest Wyoming chain bookstore.  Sixty highway miles, a lot of waiting around, and two months later, the only answer my daughter has been able to get from the chain bookstore is, “Call corporate headquarters.”

Publicity for Willow Vale in southwest Wyoming has been good: a big story on me and my novel by Connie Wilcox-Timar with my picture in the Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner.  Just this last weekend Willow Vale made the cover of the Sweetwater Guide in southwest Wyoming: a nice, informative article with a nice, big picture of the book, distributed free all over the county.

My friend Marcia, author of Staking Her Claim: Women Homesteading the West, went in to the chain bookstore on my behalf on March 23.   One perk of being a published author: Marcia got to talk to a back-room person, who said Willow Vale didn’t show up on Ingram’s distribution list on the store’s computer, so therefore the store couldn’t order my novel.

I started trying to follow up on why a southwest Wyoming chain bookstore couldn’t order a novel of southwest Wyoming interest that was getting good southwest Wyoming publicity.  I called twice on March 23, once on March 24, and once on March 26 when I finally got to speak to the same back-room person who had so rashly given Marcia her name. The back-room person said the book wasn’t showing up on the store’s computer and that I should call my publisher and see if there was a problem.  Another phone call on March 29 revealed that the problem wasn’t Ingram’s or my publisher’s.   This back-room person apparently employed part-time by the chain bookstore couldn’t order just any book.  Willow Vale had to show up on an approved list on her computer from corporate headquarters’ computer.  But she would e-mail corporate headquarters and find out why a novel of southwest Wyoming local interest wasn’t on the approved list of southwest Wyoming local books on the company’s corporate computer.

I tried on April 5 to see if the part-time back-room person at the chain bookstore had gotten an answer from corporate headquarters.  She wasn’t in, but I got to speak to another person.  I told once again how I was trying to get a novel of southwest Wyoming local interest ordered in to their southwest Wyoming store.  She said Willow Vale wasn’t showing up on the computer, but she would talk to the store manager and I would be called back.  Uh-huh, this story is certainly starting to sound familiar.

Image by imagerymajestic courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The morning of April 10, I called to follow up with either of the two persons I had spoken with about Willow Vale.  By this time the first one had quit and didn’t work at the chain bookstore anymore, and the second wasn’t available.  (All the employees of this particular chain store must be part-time on a nightmare schedule because they’re the very dickens to reach on the phone during what I thought were normal business hours.)  But I patiently went through the whole saga about trying to get my novel of local interest on the shelves of their local store with yet a third back-room person.  This third person said Willow Vale wasn’t showing up on their computer.  When I asked about maybe consigning a couple copies of the novel as I had good local publicity and people asking me where to buy the book locally, she said, ”Oh, you want the sell-back program where you can sell us used copies of books you bought from us?”

I said, “Forget it,” and hung up.

Indie Bookstore

I wouldn’t be one bit surprised to see this chain follow Borders into bankruptcy.  Support your indie bookstore!

If you would like to read my historical novel Willow Vale, it is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media. It was written for adults but its latest review suggests it is also suitable for older YA audiences.  I blog on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  You can follow me on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  I always welcome comments and feedback. Thanks!